The English Premier League has offered a deal to the European Commission that would end Sky's exclusive rights to live premiership soccer.
The commission and the league have argued for years over the way the latter is offering its live rights from 2008, because all television networks except for BSkyB were excluded.
"I am pleased to bring this long running case closer to a satisfactory outcome," Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement on today, adding that the new offer met her concerns in a "fair and transparent way".
The league has offered to sell live television rights in six balanced packages, with no one bidder allowed to buy all. This would address the commission's objection to the last round of bidding several years ago, when Sky won exclusive rights.
It is paying £1.02 billion (€1.5 billion) over three years for all live Premier League games through 2007. Sky expected live matches would go to more than one broadcaster in the new bidding and the announcement clarified the conditions, a spokesman said.
Under the new offer, the Premier League will sell each of the packages for live rights to the highest stand-alone bidder, and other bids - such as offering premiums for two or more packages - will be disregarded.
This is important because the commission says Sky offered a premium to win all of the rights last time around. The new bidding will be monitored by a trustee selected by the commission to assure the commitments are followed.
The new proposal also increases the availability of rights broadcast on mobile phones.
The commission will prepare a draft decision that would make the new commitments legally binding and, after consultation with member states, they must be approved by the full commission.